1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to the field of telecommunications/mobile phones, and more precisely to user interfaces, keyboards, mouse pads and messaging devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Many devices known in the art have a keyboard for writing text, but creating a picture with a keyboard is not easy. With a desktop computer, one approach has been to use a mouse. With smaller electronic devices, the approach has been to use touch screen technology. If the thickness of the screen has to be minimized, the usual approach has been to use a touch screen or an external mouse/trackball or a smaller touch sensitive drawing area. However, there are disadvantages to these approaches, because a touch screen can actually make the device thicker; an external mouse/trackball is an accessory which has to be carried with the device; and with the smaller touch sensitive areas, the resolution of the drawing capability is poor and the integration level of the approach is poor.
Moreover, in communicator type electronic devices, it has been a problem to make a device which is small enough for when it is not used, and large enough for when it is used. There are devices in the art with slides which cover the keyboard, but in that solution the size of the display is reduced. In addition, the usual approach has been to make a thick and expensive keyboard able to slide (or keep the slide as a pure slide). For example, the prior art device includes a display, a touch screen and a slide body having a keypad and keypad cover. The thickness of the mechanical keyframe, keyboard rubber and printed circuit board (PCB) for contact pads is easily about 2–3 millimeters in thickness. In effect, the overall mechanical structure of the keyboard makes it thick. There is a need for a small electronic device having mouse-type capability in the industry. Also, there is a need for sensing the phone location while in use to minimize the effects of loud ringing in the known devices.
In summary, the prior-art communications device increases the thickness and cost of the overall communications device and does not have the extra features discussed in more detail below in the communications device of the present invention.